Periodic solutions for planar autonomous systems with nonsmooth periodic perturbations (Q2473987)

This work starts from \textit{W. S. Loud}'s work [Ann. Math. 70, 490-529 (1959; Zbl 0091.26701)], which provides conditions under which the perturbed system \[ \dot x=\psi(x)+\varepsilon \phi(t,x,\varepsilon), \] where \(\psi\in C^1(\mathbb{R}^n,\mathbb{R}^n)\) and \(\phi\in C^1(\mathbb{R}\times \mathbb{R}^n\times [0,1], \mathbb{R}^n)\) is \(T\)-periodic in \(t\), has a \(T\)-periodic solution, which tends to the \(T\)-periodic limit cycle \(x_0\) of the unperturbed system \(\dot x=\psi(x)\). In this paper the authors consider a class of planar autonomous systems having a limit cycle \(x_0\) of smallest period \(T>0\) such that the associated linearized system around it has only one characterisitc multiplier with absolute value \(1\). They employ the theory of topological degree to establish the existence of two geometrically distinct families of \(T\)-periodic solutions of the autonomous system when it is perturbed by nonsmooth \(T\)-periodic nonlinear terms of small amplitude. They also show the convergence of these periodic solutions to \(x_0\) as the perturbation disppears and provide an estimation of the rate of convergence.